In March 1906, the noted art dealer Ambroise Vollard sent Derain to London to compose a series of paintings with the city as subject. In 30 paintings (29 of which are still extant), Derain put forth a portrait of London that was radically different from anything done by previous painters, most notably Whistler and Monet. With bold colors and compositions, Derain painted multiple pictures of the Thames and Tower Bridge. These London paintings remain among his most popular work.

"Collioure: le port de pêche" (81.5 cm x 100 cm, oil on canvas, c. 1905)
Private Collection

In 1907 art dealer Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler purchased Derain's entire studio, granting Derain financial stability. He began to experiment with stone sculpture and moved to Montmartre to be near his friend Pablo Picasso and other notable artists. Picasso's mistress, Fernande Olivier, described Derain as:

"Slim, elegant, with a lively colour and enamelled black hair. With an English chic, somewhat striking. Fancy waistcoats, ties in crude colours, red and green. Always a pipe in his mouth, phlegmatic, mocking, cold, and an arguer."

This is a later work. Notice the change of style.

"Harlequin and Pierrot" (175 x 175 cm, oil on canvas, c. 1924)

Derain spent the summer of 1905 with Matisse in the Mediterranean village of Collioure and exhibited his highly innovative Fauvist paintings at the Paris 'Salon d'Automne' that very same year. The vivid, unnatural colors led the critic Louis Vauxcelles to derisively dub his works as les Fauves, or "the wild beasts," marking the start of the Fauvist movement.

"Turning Road at L'Estaque" (oil on canvas, c. 1906)

Hi Roger,

I love these Derain's paintings even more than his impressionist and pointillist ones.

Hi Roger,

This one is so colorful, I like the way it blends together.